Surat (Gujarat): Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has appeared before a magistrate's court in Surat on Thursday to defend himself over the 'Modi surname' remark. A criminal defamation case was filed in this regard against him by BJP's Surat West legislator Purnesh Modi. On April 13, 2019, the Wayanad MP addressing a Lok Sabha election rally in Karnataka's Kolar district said, "Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi?" As per reports, the Gandhi scion will record his statement before the Chief Judicial Magistrate AN Dave.
Hurt by Rahul's remarks against the 'Modi surname', the BJP MLA had filed a defamation case against the former on April 16, 2019. The Surat West MLA alleged that Rahul defamed the entire 'Modi' community. In the same year on October 11, 2019, Rahul Gandhi had appeared in Surat district court and had pleaded not guilty to the charges made against him.
Read: Case filed against Rahul in Bihar for Modi surname remark
In 2019, another case had also been filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a Bihar court by BJP leader Manoj Modi. The BJP leader in his complaint stated that he was deeply hurt by Rahul's statement 'all thieves have Modi as their surnames'. Even, Bihar's then deputy CM Sushil Modi had filed a defamation case against Gandhi for the same reported statement.
